Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The Women in Parliament Network of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia organized a two-day conference of women in parliament from South-Eastern Europe “Equal and Empowered – We’re Stronger Together”. The goal of the conference was to gather women in parliament from across South-Eastern Europe to jointly consider the possibility of future cooperation. Opening the regional conference, the chairperson of the National Assembly, Maja Gojković, said the National Assembly considers the empowering of women and gender equality to be important goals, and noted that without women, there is neither development nor progress.

Zorana Mihajlović, the deputy prime minister and minister in the Government, as well as chairperson of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, also addressed those present. She explained that a lot has been done on improving the status of women, but a lot more work certainly remains, because it is not right for women in Serbia to be marginalized, that more than half of them are unemployed, that they progress more slowly in their careers, but also that they are victims of family and partner violence.

The opening of the conference was also attended by Mike Uyehara, deputy head of mission at the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Silvana Koch Mehrin, executive director of the Women in Parliaments Global Forum, Irena Vojáčková-Sollorano, UN resident coordinator and UNDP resident representative in Serbia, and Sonja Liht, director of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence.

After the two days of work, the women in parliament of South-Eastern Europe have signed a Memorandum on Cooperation, accessible here.

Source: www.parlament.gov.rs